The catch at Shutters on the Beach
Shutters on the Beach sells the sand at the door, the pool and the walk to the pier, and the bill is built to match. Five things are worth knowing before you book it. None of them is hidden, and none of them outweighs the beach if the beach is why you came.
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A $739 entry room comes to about $930 a night with the fees and tax, and about $1,020 with the valet.
On a Tuesday in early December 2026 the entry Superior Room was $739 a night before tax and fees. The hotel adds a $60 resort fee, 15 per cent city tax on the room and the fee, a $7.25 tourism assessment and two further nightly fees of $2, which brings the night to about $930. Overnight parking is valet only at $90 a night, so a hire car takes it to about $1,020. The resort fee does buy things every guest gets: a welcome drink, yoga on the beach at weekends, a two-hour bicycle rental each day, an afternoon house car within three miles, Wi-Fi, EV charging and calls. In-room dining adds a $6 fee and a 20 per cent service charge.
What to do. Budget from the all-in figure, not the rate, and use what the fee covers: the bikes and the paved beach path along the front of the hotel are the easy way to get it back. If you will stay in Santa Monica, do without the car and the valet.
The entry rooms face neighbouring buildings, and the first category sold with the sea in view costs about $490 a night more.
The Superior and Deluxe rooms face north or south over a residential view, and the Partial Ocean View rooms see the water only in part. The Ocean View Room, $1,229 against $739 on the same December night, is the first category sold with the sea in view. It sits in both the Beach House and the taller Ocean House behind it, and its view may also take in the pool below or the three-storey Beach House. Only the Ocean Front rooms, on floors 1 to 3 of the Beach House, face the Pacific directly. Even from the front of the hotel the water is about 230 metres away across a wide public beach.
What to do. Ask for the Beach House, or for a high floor of the Ocean House, above the Beach House roof; both are requests, not promises. Skip the Partial Ocean View rooms: at $991 they cost $252 more than the entry room for part of the sea.
From the Superior to the Ocean Front the rooms are all about 450 sq ft, so paying more buys a view, not space.
The Superior, Superior Accessible, Deluxe, Partial Ocean View, Ocean View and Ocean Front King rooms are all about 450 sq ft (42 m²), with a glass-enclosed shower and, in most, a hydrothermal massage tub and a balcony. So on the December night when the Superior was $739, the steps of $66 to the Deluxe, $252 to the Partial Ocean View and $490 to the Ocean View Room bought a different outlook, not more floor. More space starts with the Studio King, about 500 sq ft (46 m²), which had no rate that night, and then the suites, from about 800 sq ft (74 m²): the cheapest, the Santa Monica Suite, was $1,834 and has a residential view. A twin rollaway is $50 a night.
What to do. If space matters more than the view, ask for the Studio King: a living area, a sleeper sofa and a patio for four, though it looks onto the courtyard, not the sea. A family does better with two connecting rooms in one category, subject to availability, or a suite with a sofa bed.
Santa Monica is a drive from the rest of Los Angeles, and the Metro is a 14-minute walk away.
On foot the pier is nine minutes north and the south end of the Third Street Promenade is 15. Almost everything else is a drive. Off-peak, Venice Beach is 6 minutes by car, the Getty Center 15, Rodeo Drive 16, Downtown Los Angeles 23, the Hollywood Walk of Fame 25 and Universal Studios Hollywood 32, and the airport is 19. At the evening rush allow a good deal longer. The nearest Metro station, Downtown Santa Monica, is the western end of the E Line to Downtown Los Angeles, and it is 14 minutes' walk from the hotel.
What to do. Make Hollywood one day trip by car or taxi and set off outside the rush hours. The resort fee's afternoon house car stops at three miles, which covers Santa Monica but not Hollywood.
The signature restaurant serves no dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the hotel's three tables stop serving dinner by 10pm.
1 Pico, the hotel's Italian restaurant, serves dinner Thursday to Monday, 5:30pm to 9:30pm, and brunch on Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesday and Wednesday the hotel's dinner is Coast, which serves every night until 9pm, or the Living Room's evening menu, served until 10pm. The Living Room is also open to non-guests, until 11pm and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, with live music on most evenings, so the lobby is a busy bar into the night, not a hushed one.
What to do. Book 1 Pico for a night between Thursday and Monday and eat out on Tuesday and Wednesday: Cobi's serves every night and Capo serves Tuesday to Saturday, both within ten minutes' walk.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants Hollywood or Downtown Los Angeles on foot, because both are a drive away. Anyone who wants a sea view on an entry-room budget, and anyone who needs more space than a 450 sq ft room and will not pay for a suite. And anyone for whom a $60 resort fee and $90 for the valet, on top of a rate that starts above $700, is the sticking point.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone who wants Los Angeles as a beach trip: the sand at the door, the paved path for a bike ride, the pier nine minutes' walk north and a drink on the Living Room terrace at sunset. Book an Ocean View Room, ask for the Beach House, use the bikes the fee already covers and eat out on a Tuesday. That is the stay the money buys, and it is a good reason to book.
The catch elsewhere in LA
- The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills
Extras sit on top of a four-figure rate. Beverly Hills hotel tax is 14 per cent and the hotel's other city and state levies bring the total to roughly 15.5 to 16 per cent, and parking is $70 a day, which you will want because almost everything is a drive.
- Malibu Beach InnMalibu
Pacific Coast Highway runs directly behind the building, and some guests mention hearing traffic over the surf; the King Pier View Rooms have the highway in view. Ask for a sea-facing room on the third floor, away from the street entrance.
- Terranea ResortPalos Verdes
A $75 resort fee and $75 for overnight valet add up to $150 a night on top of the room rate and the Rancho Palos Verdes hotel tax; the one- to four-bedroom bungalows, casitas and villas carry a $90 resort fee.
- Sunset Tower HotelSunset Strip
The room rate is not the whole price. A nightly amenity fee of $52.43, tax included, is added to every stay, parking is by valet at $75 a night, and 16.695% hotel tax applies to the room.
- Santa Monica Proper HotelSanta Monica
A $55 nightly destination fee plus tax is added to every stay, and valet parking is $90.27 per vehicle with tax, so the room rate is not the nightly cost, least of all for a guest with a car.
- The Hollywood RooseveltHollywood
Noise is part of the deal. The hotel runs restaurants, bars, private events and pool programming, music and pool activity can be audible in the cabana rooms around the pool, the Tropicana is shared with day-pass guests aged 21 and over, loungers are first come, first served, and the pool can close for private events or film shoots.
- The GarlandStudio City
The 101 freeway runs along the north-east edge of the grounds, and some rooms hear it. The hotel had its balcony doors replaced in 2013 to cut the noise, so keep the door shut at night and ask for a room away from the freeway side.
- Silver Lake Pool & InnSilver Lake
Noise is the recurring complaint: thin walls let through footsteps from the floor above and the corridor, and street-side rooms hear Santa Monica Boulevard traffic into the night, so ask for a quiet room away from the boulevard.
- Hotel FigueroaDowntown LA
The entry rooms are small: the 1 Queen Bed room is about 187 sq ft (17 m²) and the 1 King Bed about 270 sq ft (25 m²), so book the king or a suite if you want space to sit.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Shutters on the Beach
What are the downsides of Shutters on the Beach?
Shutters on the Beach sells the sand at the door, the pool and the walk to the pier, and the bill is built to match. Five things are worth knowing before you book it. None of them is hidden, and none of them outweighs the beach if the beach is why you came. A $739 entry room comes to about $930 a night with the fees and tax, and about $1,020 with the valet. The entry rooms face neighbouring buildings, and the first category sold with the sea in view costs about $490 a night more. From the Superior to the Ocean Front the rooms are all about 450 sq ft, so paying more buys a view, not space. Santa Monica is a drive from the rest of Los Angeles, and the Metro is a 14-minute walk away. The signature restaurant serves no dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the hotel's three tables stop serving dinner by 10pm.
Who should not book Shutters on the Beach?
Anyone who wants Hollywood or Downtown Los Angeles on foot, because both are a drive away. Anyone who wants a sea view on an entry-room budget, and anyone who needs more space than a 450 sq ft room and will not pay for a suite. And anyone for whom a $60 resort fee and $90 for the valet, on top of a rate that starts above $700, is the sticking point.
Our verdict
Book Shutters on the Beach to sleep a few steps from the sand in Santa Monica, with the pier a short walk north. Pay the step to an Ocean View Room for the Pacific in view from your balcony, and budget for the resort fee and the valet.
Last checked: October 2026